I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of jewelry and, more particularly, to earrings which are designed to alleviate the problem caused to the earlobe when a person wears heavy earrings for a protracted period of time. The wearing of heavy earrings will damage the earlobe over time, by causing the originally pierced hole in the earlobe to elongate and possibly become of such elongated length as to finally tear through the bottom of the lobe.
II. Description of the Related Art
The use of heavy earrings tend to tear the earlobe because there is only one point of contact for the wire or stud which is placed through the pierced hole in the lobe. Originally when the ear is pierced, there is a small hole within the lobe, but it has been found that over time, if a user wears heavy earrings, the original pierced hole will tend to elongate because of the post or wire will act much like a slicing tool, and will tend to tear the lobe in a downward direction and ultimately, over a period of time, may very well tear the lobe completely through. Obviously, such an effect is quite unsightly and may very well be painful to the user. All of this may, out of necessity, require surgery to fix the user's earlobe and, obviously, this could well be expensive and may even not accomplish the desired repair. The problem of the tearing of the earlobe has hindered many women from wearing the earrings they would normally enjoy.
Various forms of double post earrings have been previously devised, but none adequately prevent the tearing of the earlobe as just described.
For instance, in Applicants' previously issued U.S. Pat. No. D-348,023, there is shown a double post which has a solid bar interconnecting two (2) fixed posts, which posts will fit through the earlobe and be connected by the typical friction nut at the rear of the ear. In this particular patent, a large type of earring ornamentation is shown hanging from the retainer bar. However, the retainer bar is fixed to the posts and the elements are not capable of being utilized separately, nor is it capable of being affixed to either side of the earlobe.
In U.S. Pat. No. D-376,768 granted to Ross there is shown a double post earring which has a large depending loop from which a heavier ornamentation may be attached. This earring suffers the same problems as the patent just described to Horner.
The patent to Wilczewski (U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,572) discloses a double post earring having separate posts which may be interconnected by a loop of wire or other material, or may be, in fact, just interconnected between the two posts. However, such a system still does not equalize the forces between the two posts to prevent the tearing of the earlobe.
In the patent to McConnell, Jr., (U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,179) there is shown a multiple post earring structure which does not need separate fastening means to hold the earring in the earlobe. However, this particular system still does not properly address the problem of tearing of the earlobe inasmuch as each element may well tear its separate hole in the lobe.
The patent to Blumkin et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,132) discloses a multiple post earring system which suffers from the same problem as the system shown in Wilczewski, inasmuch as there is no fixed bar between the separate posts to equalize the pressure on the lobe.